N's JL Drabbles Take Three
by JakitaWagner
Summary: Yet more drabbles. Added: Royalty, Sorority, and Exchange
1. Key

**Key  
**(spoilers up through "SotH", birthdayfic for crhblack)

John gave her the key to his apartment six months ago. Mari tries not to play the mental game of wondering if Shayera had a key, if she still does. Sometimes she wonders anyway, like she wonders what John thinks when he watches his ex and her new lover.

Today she and Shayera are pretending to be pleasant over cobb salad, and she is wondering how to ask without asking. They discuss the surprise party Flash is planning, and Mari makes her gambit: "Can you go over early and start setting up without me?" And Shayera agrees and it hurts.

* * *

A/N: Third verse, same as the first. Drabbles are too small to get their own files. If one of these grabs you, feel free to run with and expand it further. - N.B. 


	2. Spare

**Spare  
**(sequel to "Key," birthdayfic for crhblack)

Mari almost doesn't attend the party, but she doesn't want to fight, either. She greets the other Leaguers, smiles professionally, applauds the presents, thinks about the gift she'll let John open when the other guests have left.

John's not quite comfortable being the center of attention, but he's better in a corner with Mari and Flash and a beer. Shayera comes over, gives him a friendly squeeze on the arm, then hands him something that shines.

"Doormat?" asks Flash; Shayera nods. Flash grabs the key and zips out and right back.

Her smile is genuine the rest of the night.


	3. Colors

**Colors  
**(spoilers up through SotH)

Shayera breaks the transmission, not quite a smile on her face.

"You're still seeing Hall," says Batman.

"He likes me. He _knows_ me."

"He researched you on the Internet. That's not the same thing."

"It's close enough."

They head to the meeting together. It's John's turn to get refreshments: tangerine juice in multicolored plastic cups. He hands her the teal one without comment.

"Thanks."

He shrugs. "It's your favorite color, right?"

She pauses. "How do you know that?"

"You told me once. That mission to Alpha Ceti."

"That was five years ago."

"So?"

Batman coughs, and they start the meeting.


	4. Meskhenet

**Meskhenet  
**(followup/prequel to Terry Winder's lovely "A Story of Destiny," with permission. Spoilers up through SotH)

She heard them before she saw them: a murmur from the winged goddess, an answering deep chuckle from the Priest. Meskhenet froze. As senior priestess, she had earlier silenced the temple girls chattering their blasphemous rumors amongst themselves. Now she watched the lovers embrace and recognized the gossip was true.

Sheremembered a time before the winged gods had come, remembered speaking for the divine, remembered the night the Priest shed her maiden's blood and whispered he loved her.

As he whispered now to Chay-Ara.

Meskhenet retreated from her eavesdropping and hurried to tell the winged god of this betrayal.


	5. Side Wager

**Side Wager  
**(Spoilers for "Grudge Match")

Roulette checked her private line. "This had better be important."

"There's no need to be rude," said Sinestro. "I'm calling with a proposition."

"I'm listening," said Roulette, her eyes on the four-way battle below. She knew how to work a crowd. It was nearly time to add the fifth fighter.

"This fight is to the death, yes?"

"Almost certainly." The programming would only take them so far. The winner would have to already be willing to kill. "Are you betting?"

"Say I'm covering my bets. Vixen. Hawkgirl. I'll pay you five million each for the corpses."

Roulette smirked. "Agreed."  



	6. Learning Curve

**Learning Curve  
**(spoilers up through "Ancient History")

Half-conscious, Mari listens to them in the hallway. They talk of the future, talk of a child, and she wonders if it's real, or if the concussion and the pain meds are mocking her.

He says he is staying with Mari. He comes in alone and he sits.

She wants to ask him if he's staying because he loves her, or just because he wants to spite destiny, but she's so tired.

He takes her hand. _Tell me,_ she thinks. Instead, he talks about the news. He doesn't know she heard. She'll have to ask after all.

But not today.  



	7. Things Left Unsaid

**Things Left Unsaid**

This isn't the first time they've had this conversation. Bruce decides it will be the last.

"I'm not yourtherapist, and frankly, I don't care if you ever get married.

"But.

"You saw the future. You know you will have a son who is strong and brave and who obviously cares for you very much. And you'll have him with a beautiful woman whom everyone on the planet, including your girlfriend, knows you're still in love with.

"Congratulations. You win. You rolled your destiny and came up aces." He flinches, remembering, then continues: "Stop whining and just say 'Thank you.'"


	8. Ever Faithful

**Ever Faithful  
**(spoilers for "Ancient History")

Bashari is with her, so she must be dreaming again.

Chayara presses her lips to his and whispers secret things in her native tongue, and his laugh rumbles through her like an engine's roar. She tells him of all she's seen in the spaces between the stars. He teaches her the ways of combat here on this hard, primitive, beautiful world.

They love and she is complete.

She wakes, after. Katar is naked beside her and he touches her face and says he loves her. Chayara tells him she loves him too, but her lips still tingle from her dreams.

---

A/N: This is a companion piece to "It Ain't Just a River in Egypt" which is rated M and will only show up on a search for stories of that rating. Or go by XFfan2000's profile.


	9. Shaking It Up

**Shaking It Up  
**(Spoilers up through "Dead Reckoning")

Clark was right; this is the best milkshake she's ever tasted. Diana blesses Wally for her chocolate fixation as she orders another.

She's alone today, wearing the glasses that are her disguise. She wishes this could have been the three of them, but Clark had work, and Bruce ...

Bruce made it clear he's what could have been.

"Hi!" And then he's sitting across from her: rumpled clothes, rakish smile, not billionaire playboy mode, but close. "Mind if I join you?"

Soon she is chatting and laughing with him. Perhaps Bruce could have been more, but today he is her friend.


	10. Gone

**Gone  
**(spoilers up through "Destroyer")

Wally had missed J'onn terribly when he'd been off seeing the world (and getting remarried, but he wasn't discussing that yet). Now he was back, and it was ... weird.

Sure, things had been tense after Shayera's return, especially whenever Diana and John were around, but Wally had been too glad to see her again to care. This was different. No broken trust this time, but still they needed to reconnect.

They convened in the conference room. Everyone swore not to use their powers.

"Bruce," said Clark. "Do you have a nine?"

Bats scowled, but he always did.

"Go fish."


	11. Marathon

**Marathon**

The hardest part is remembering to slow down for normal things.

He can't chow through two lunches at work. He can't use his speed to run assays. If a piece of evidence needs to be overnighted to Gotham, he can't just run it there himself.

He has to make himself take individual steps on the sidewalk, to stand in lines, to wait for people to answer the phone. He can't dash up the stairs instead of waiting for the elevator.

Everybody says the Flash is just "a regular guy," but no one knows how hard he works to stay there.  



	12. Intercession

**Intercession**

The Starro creature owned him, within and without, but rare flickers of control allowed him to manipulate events, to protect his friends from himself. He drove them away however he could: John and Shayera retired; Static made himself less available for League missions; Enigma walked out in a cloud of hard words.

But Barda stayed by his side despite his efforts, and the other four had nowhere else to go, no one else to be. And then Micron almost died.

Desperate, Clark forced all his waning energy around one tempting image, enticed Starro into his only possible trap:

_Find. Batman._  



	13. Role of a Lifetime

**Role of a Lifetime**

The power disruptor wore off, though not in time to save them. Yet her mission meant survival above all else, and at the end, that had won over loyalty. Bruce had opened the dimensional doorway but only she had walked through, destroying the gate behind herself.

Fortune had favored her. First in her discovery that her double's disgrace had rendered her an outcast. Second in that she found her counterpart when not even the League knew her whereabouts. Third in the wolves to which she threw the corpse.

The Nelsons took her in without question, and no one ever knew.  



	14. Dressed for Success

**Dressed for Success  
**(part of the "Role of a Lifetime" series)

"So what do you think?"

Rex stands before her in the new suit he's designed, nervous as anything. He's starting his own career in the family business, and he's dressed for the part:

A mask, to show his pride in his Thanagarian half.

Nth metal in the armor, to protect him.

Wings, because even with the jetpack, he's longed for them all his life.

Her gaze is drawn to the hawk's head in profile on his chest, just like what she wore two lifetimes ago, and she knows he'll misread the mist in her eyes as she says, "It's perfect."


	15. Reunion

**Reunion**

I didn't count on immortality.

Slower aging, yes, I took that as part and parcel of the unique effects of the yellow sun on my physiology. But the years passed, friends grew old. Ma and Pa died. Lois died. Wally, Bruce, Shayera, John, and after three centuries, even J'onn and Diana. Their children. Their grandchildren. All gone.

But I found a purpose. Past the heroics and the protection of this little world. Time was my gift. I helped when I could, stayed back otherwise. Watching. Waiting.

Ten centuries.

My eyes blurred as John and Ollie faded from sight.

"Hello, Kara."


	16. The Quality of Mercy

**The Quality of Mercy**  
("Role of a Lifetime" series)

"Did I ever ask you for your forgiveness?"

Diana says nothing, keeps flying, biting down hard on her retort.

Shayera hasn't asked anyone for forgiveness. She won't. Apologies imply regret. Regret indicates uncertainty. Uncertainty means weakness. Weakness equals death.

The others were weak. Batman, uncertain if their way was correct after all. Superman, regretting his all too human need for the world to accept him as savior. The rest, sorry and lost forever.

Her actions saved her life. She won't regret, can't apologize, and if she's ever mad enough to try, no one will forgive her anyway, not even herself.


	17. Lessons

**Lessons **

The finest instructor in Espionage Wing, fierce warrior, diplomat, founding member of the Justice League, and what was she doing? Was she teaching classes in intelligence gathering? In hand-to-hand?

No.

Shayera glanced at the young faces before her. "Let's get to the point. Interspecies dating is like any other relationship. Always be honest up front. Never make assumptions. Trust me, you do _not_ want to be wearing only your mask and a smile when you find out your partner has orange tentacles on his ... Anyway."

Stargirl giggled. Gear blushed crimson.

Shayera swore she'd get Bruce for this.


	18. Treats

**Treats  
**(Part of the R 'Verse)

The year he was seven, Arthur dressed up as a cowboy. Poppa helped him with the outfit, telling anyone who would listen about the time he and Aunt Diana and the first Batman went into the Old West. Mom dressed as a mermaid, her tail iridescent green and blue. Whenever someone complimented her, she glared at Dad and muttered about losing a bet.

The year he was eight, Arthur dressed up as a dinosaur because Dad said he couldn't go as Batman. Dad wore a costume with fluffy white feathers. Whenever anyone asked, he glared at Mom, who only smiled.


	19. Royalty

Title: Royalty  
Author: **nancybrown**  
Fandom: Justice League Unlimited  
Character: Vixen  
Rating: G  
Summary: Drabble. Two crowns.  
A/N: Written for **halfamoon**.

Her song came on, and Mari took a breath before she stepped onto the runway.

_Her lungs pound as she assumes the speed of a cheetah, racing the wind to catch Giganta._

Flashbulbs peppered the dark, people standing to get a glimpse of the sleek lines of her clingy gown.

_Pain courses down her side, a glancing blow but she'll be bruised for days._

John watched her from the audience. She flashed him a smile.

_The warmth of his ring gathers her, and she's back on her feet, ready for battle._

Mari raised her arms, queen of both her worlds.


	20. Sorority

Title: Sorority  
Author: **nancybrown**  
Fandom: Justice League Unlimited  
Characters: Wonder Woman, Supergirl  
Rating: G  
Summary: Drabble. The surprise is that they haven't worked together more often.  
A/N: Written for **halfamoon**.

The surprise is that they haven't worked together more often. Mr. Terrific views them too similarly: beauty and brawn. A mission requiring them both usually needs them all.

So the laugh that escapes Diana is unfamiliar and pleasant as she watches Kara, delighting in demolishing giant robots one punch at a time. While she has fought beside many of her new sisters in Man's World, Supergirl is the only one who comes close in power. Their camaraderie feels like that of equals rather than counterparts.

It's nice.

After, in the canteen, the lights catch Kara's hair, and Diana is home.


	21. Exchange double drabble

Title: Exchange  
Author: **nancybrown**  
Fandom: Justice League Unlimited  
Characters: Black Canary, Amanda Waller  
Rating: G  
Summary: Double Drabble. It's like a partnership, and also like a trade.  
A/N: Written for **halfamoon**. (It's like this. I was at Target and saw they had Amanda Waller toys and was suddenly wondering why I hadn't already written three million stories about her already.)

"You should know, I was expecting they'd send the Bat."

Dinah laughs. "_You_ should know, no one sends Batman anywhere he doesn't want to go."

"True enough." Mrs. Waller turns from the window and fixes Dinah with the most piercing stare anyone without x-ray vision has ever given her. She tries not to squirm. "I will be liaising with the League. You will be liaising with my people."

"We're not a threat."

"I realize that, now. The more we work with each other, the more we'll both remember that."

"Understood."

Dinah knows she is here because the League needs a metahuman to act as their token voice in the room. A pretty blonde, no matter how strong her power or how confident in her ability to kick the ass of any doubter, is a quieter threat than a muscle-bound vigilante or an alien. So the logic went, anyway.

But she is sitting across from the woman they call The Wall, who has no powers, no weapons, nothing but her mind and her presence and her unflinching knowledge that she can order men and women to their duty and they will obey, and for the first time, Dinah is afraid.


End file.
